Jose Pasillas: Sinking Back Into The Beat

By Sam Pryor

March 26, 2012 9:56 am

Full-Body Assault

Machine-assisted or not, little deters from the sheer luxuriousness
of Pasillas’ pocket. From the pulsing shuffle of
‘Thieves,’ to the Stewart Copeland–styled groove of
‘The Original,’ the super funk of “Switch
Blade,” and the album’s most aggro track,
‘Adolescents’ (propelled by sweltering open hi-hat work in
6/8), Pasillas’ power and groove are impossible to deny. And
unlike his concert work, which is exclusively delivered on his DW kit,
Pasillas followed O’Brien’s directive to use the
producer’s classic 1960s kits, including some Black Beauty snare
drums, and cymbals so ancient and weathered their brand names were worn
off.

“We usually record the body of the kit — usually a
22" or 24" kick, a 10" and 12" rack tom, and a
14" and 16" floor tom,” Pasillas explains. “They
stay the same for the majority of the record and then we’ll change
out snares and cymbals. Snare drums get changed from song to song. I am
not even sure what they were — a couple Black Beauties, some
3" x 15" snare, a no-name beat-up snare from the ’60s.
There’s no names on a lot of his cymbals, too, but they just sound
good.

“When it comes to live, I am in control of everything I am
playing. That’s a different world. I recorded a couple records
this past year with my DW kit for a friend’s project, but
it’s a more contemporary sound. Using these old drums, you get
this old warm wood sound. We like that plush sound for our
records.”

And of course, back in Calabasas, Pasillas’ personal kit fills
an entire rehearsal room, where he practices to music of every era.

“I have my DWs upstairs, where I play all the time,” he
says. “I play with my iPod, a freeform jam. I shuffle with what
comes up. Could be Gypsy Kings, Fugazi, Jackson Five, Jamiroquai, Jay Z,
Jeff Buckley, Led Zeppelin, Louie Armstrong. I have a DW tour kit set up
and a stripped-down 5-piece, the classic kit from DW that emulates an
old Ludwig kit from the ’70s. I do focus on technique, and sort of
break down parts I need to work on — a little bit of everything.
Or I work on rudiments.”

“That’s a staple,” he says. “I will get a
bottom snare head and cut it in half. Or I will cut a ring. I put that
on the top head and it changes the sound. The stick lands on the regular
head, not the extra head. I don’t tape it down. I even do it live.
I will take half a head and put in on my snare. It slaps around
sometimes and if I’m not watching I might hit it and it will fly
off. But just being conscious of it helps avoid that. I’m focusing
on hitting the drum in the right spot. It dampens the head a little bit,
makes a thick sound. A lot of funk drummers from the ’70s would
put a towel on the snare; it has the same effect. Putting a towel on it
dampens it like crazy. But it’s a different sound. Those snare
sounds from the ’70s are big and thick and that’s a lot of
it. But we did that on a quarter of the songs. It’s those little
tricks to find a different sound for a part, but not completely
different and drastic. We’ll add a dampener, maybe put a
tambourine on a snare drum. I play rimshots most of the time.”

Unlike some mid-height drummers who might prefer to look over the
kits, and perhaps raise their visual stature, 5’ 5” Pasillas
goes as low as possible, even castrating the legs of drum thrones to
place his center of gravity practically on the floor.

“When they send my seats we have to cut them down,” he
says. “When I record, usually we will have drums carted, and I
always leave the set however they’ve left it. It’s never
going to be my own kit. And I can pretty much play any kit comfortably.
I just play it the way it is. I am always going to be uncomfortable on
another kit. I can’t set them up the way I have my DW kit. My kit
is so low; I have a custom seat, so nothing’s ever going to match
my DW live setup. Playing live I wouldn’t be comfortable playing a
set that’s not mine. But I can record a record with the way they
set up the kit.”

But when recording, doesn’t he want to dial it in and make it
as perfect as possible? Not adjusting a kit to suit your physical
requirements seems like creating unnecessary obstacles.

“I’m comfortable,” Pasillas replies. “I can
play a set like that and be totally cool. It’s this personal
challenge to conquer [the drums] anywhere I’m sitting. I look at
it like that in the studio, too. If there is a cymbal I can’t
reach I will move it. If there’s a tom that’s too flat I
will move it. But I don’t spend a lot of time moving the drums
around.”

Pasillas tilts his snare drum to get a rimshot, and though he sits
low, he generally uses a heel-up approach on the bass drum pedal.

“If I am playing soft, it’s heel down,” he says.
“But our music is pretty hard-hitting usually. To get the drums to
sound right you need a certain amount of force. I am not playing heavy
handed but I am putting some force into it. ‘Anna Molly’ was
smashing. ‘Adolescents’ is the most aggressive song on the
record. There I am using some force cause I am really into the song. But
it’s not killing it. None of these songs called for smashing
down.”